The Gold Line opened in July of last year, and is part of the larger Metro Line [including the Red, Blue and Green Lines]. Along with the Metro Bus system, it's designed to allow travel to and from points all over the southland. Pasadena to Redondo. Downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach. Norwak to Universal City. It's all do-able. According to the Metro website, the Gold Line has carried over 3 million passengers since opening, and in a city where cars rule, this is a good thing. [see map below]

This month, ground was broken on the eastern extension of the Gold Line. The plan is to add an additional 6 miles of track, and 8 stations that will continue east from Pasadena into East Los Angeles and Little Tokyo. It's slated to open in 2009.

For this excursion, I did some poking around on the Metro website and found that the Gold Line train stops near the Southwest Museum, and then near the Armory Center for the Arts, where an interesting art exhibit opened last month.

With just a check of the hours and without digging too deep, off we went with a picnic lunch in hand.

The Sierra Madre station is the 'end of the line' for the Gold Line. It's also about a mile away from where we live in Pasadena. Parking is free and plenty of spaces were available. [below]

The machines to buy tickets are so easy, even a 9 year old can do it. [above]

One way tickets: $1.35 [for single boarding on a single train]
All Day Pass: $3.00 [includes all Metro trains and busses for the day]

Three All Day Passes -- $9.00.

The Sierra Madre Station, is located in the middle of the 210 Freeway. Passengers walk across an overpass to get there. Standing in the middle of this open air structure, and the station platform, it's incredible to realize just how loud freeways are.

The trains still look good. In that, they're clean, well taken care of, and with the exception of some graffiti here and there [scrawled no doubt by some 40-year old man in his business suit], are not showing too much wear and tear.

Inside the train, maps of the Gold Line Route are displayed on posters, pamphlets about Metro are offered for those seeking more information, plus, the recorded announcements for each stop are clear and easy to understand. Along with the station names that flash on an electronic sign as the train pulls in, it's fairly easy to figure out where you are and where you're going. [above]

Plus, the Metro employees we encountered were very accommodating and friendly.

Southwest Museum was our stop, and we arrived in about 10 minutes. [above]

Directly across the street from the station is the Southwest Museum of the American Indian. Never head of it. But there it sits on top of a craggy hilltop, just below Mt. Washington as it has since 1914.